HYDERABAD: Expressing serious displeasure over the alleged stalling of the Palamuru Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Scheme (PRLIS) works for the past two years, BRS president and former chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Sunday declared that the BRS would launch people’s movements in the erstwhile Mahbubnagar, Rangareddy and Nalgonda districts, demanding that the government complete the project. He said village-wise awareness meetings with farmers would also be conducted.
Speaking to reporters after a marathon joint meeting of the BRS Legislature Party and State Executive at Telangana Bhavan, KCR said that the sole agenda of the meeting was PRLIS. He stated that public meetings would be organised in all three districts and that he would personally attend them.
Terming the present government as “passive” towards PRLIS, he said the BRS had given enough time to the ruling Congress and would not tolerate further inaction.
It’s sarva bhrashta govt: KCR
“It is a sarva bhrashta (completely corrupt) government. There is no sincerity at all. We will organise three to four massive public meetings demanding the completion of PRLIS,” he said, adding that he would be on the field from now onwards.
Rao further expressed dissatisfaction over the functioning of the Congress government and said it was steadily losing the confidence of the people. “We will skin the state government alive. Until today it was one approach; from tomorrow it will be another,” he declared.
Recalling how the Telangana irrigation sector was neglected during the combined Andhra Pradesh rule by both Congress and TDP governments, particularly in Mahbubnagar, Rao referred to his Alampur-Gadwal padayatra during the statehood movement.
After the formation of Telangana and the BRS government, it was decided to utilise 174 tmcft of Krishna water for PRLIS, he said. He explained that minor irrigation savings of 45 tmcft, along with another 45 tmcft that Telangana was entitled to receive above the Nagarjunasagar project due to diversion of Godavari waters by Andhra Pradesh into the Krishna basin, were allocated to PRLIS. Thus, the BRS government earmarked 90.81 tmcft for the project.
In addition, the Brijesh Kumar Tribunal, based on 65 per cent dependability, allocated 1,005 tmcft to the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh in the Krishna river. The additional water allotted to Telangana in that was also planned to be diverted to PRLIS, taking the total allocation to 174 tmcft, Rao explained.
He recalled that the Bachawat Tribunal had allocated 17 tmcft for the Jurala project. However, the then AP government neglected it despite the then CM N Chandrababu Naidu adopting Palamuru district, he alleged. Due to the neglect of irrigation projects, people from Palamuru were forced to migrate to Mumbai, he said.
He pointed out that though the Palamuru region has a geographical area, farmers failed to receive even an additional drop of water. He said the Rajolibanda Diversion Scheme (RDS) was damaged by AP leaders when Telangana tried to draw its rightful allocation during the combined state. Though RDS was meant to irrigate 80,000 acres, Telangana never received water for more than 15,000 acres, he alleged.
The BRS chief said it was his government that provided irrigation to 6.5 lakh acres by completing pending projects such as Kalwakurthy, Nettempadu and Bheema. He added that Palamuru was accorded top priority under Mission Kakatiya and that the BRS government had also conceived the Tummilla Lift Irrigation Scheme for the region.